Nine months

Yesterday, Auro was exactly 9 months old. This means that I can't claim anymore that he has spent most of his life inside of me :D
So let's recapitulate: our 9-month old boy is the proud owner of 3 mini teeth, has reached the height of 71cm, weighs a little over 8 kilos (of which, I suspect, more than half is made up by his protruding belly... OMG, he eats a lot!!) and has a vocabulary that reaches from 'gaga', 'dada' to (and this is my favourite) 'mama'!
Another news: tomorrow night my little 'big boy' and I are flying to Belgium. We will arrive at 5:30 in the morning... hope you can make it, opa!?!

Going local

I just couldn't resist!
Auro, if you are old enough to read this: don't blame your mama for this! You just looked soooo cute in red :D

Three at once

During our travel to Hong Kong and Macau, Auro had some restless nights and cried a bit more often than usually, but almost as soon as we came back to Changchun and we went back to our old routines, he calmed down, caught up all the lost sleep and after a couple of days he was his old happy self again. For the first time in over a month, I also managed to sleep for 8 hours straight again (Yeah!!!).
And then, one morning, there it was: Auro's first tooth! For months already, people were constantly asking me about Auro's teeth: "Does he have teeth yet? How about his teeth? Still nothing?". It reminded me a bit of the questions many of those same people used to ask me when I was still in high school: "Do you have a boyfriend yet? Where's your boyfriend?" (Why don't you ask me now, huh?). Anyway, every peep Auro made and every cry he uttered was blamed on those evil teeth that were for sure tormenting him. Now finally they are here!! I say 'they', because, in just some days, two more came out! Now, Auro has two little white pieces of tooth sticking out from his bottom jaw and a slightly bigger one is showing from the top. The rest of his gum is white-ish too, so I'm expecting the other one on the top to show itself soon too.

Goodbye

On Saturday the 6th of June it was time to say goodbye to aunt Lara and nonna Valeria. For one whole month we had been in their cheerful company and I have to say that it was a bit hard for me to see them go. I have really enjoyed the company, the home-cooked meals, the traveling, the fun! But, nothing to be done, they and their fifty suitcases (haha) had to go back to Italy, where, I'm sure, a happy nonno Elio was waiting for them. Thanks! I was so happy to have you here. I had a great time and I hope you did too. See you in Italy for Christmas!!

Macau

And then there was Macau... We left Hong Kong by ferry on a rainy morning to arrive in Macau and find a hot and burning sun. Home of the Portugese for a long time, Macau still has many of the original Portugese buildings and sometimes you forget that you are in China (actually after having passed through customs and having to change HK Dollars into the local currency Pataca, you ARE in a different country), but, again, it wasn't half as beautiful as we had expected (maybe we just expect too much?). Our driver/guide told us that in recent years many Chinese have started to come to Macau to gamble (as it is forbidden on mainland China) and a lot of Macanese have left their small and traditional shops/restaurants to go and work for the big casinos that are rising up everywhere on the small peninsula. Oh, and by the way, prostitution is also legal in Macau. With all the money that is flowing from China to Macau like this, I wonder if Macau will ever let herself become a part of China again...

Hong Kong: the sea

The promise of beautiful beaches with sampans quietly floating in the far distance, drew us to the southern part of Hong Kong Island. There was, unfortunately, nothing of the sort. Hower, there was sea, more precisely the South China Sea. And I wouldn't be a real tourist if I had gone all that way and not put my feet in it! I also thought it would be a unique chance for Auro to dip his feet in the sea for the first time, so... we removed our shoes and socks and in we went. But, as you can see from the picture, Auro did not like it too much. Like his father, I suppose, Auro prefers to be 'on' the sea rather than 'in' it.

Hong Kong: the view

To be quite honnest, I have to admit that I was a little bit disappointed about Hong Kong. I had imagined it to be completely different. It's hard to explain, but I thought it would be more 'Chinese', more characteristic. Instead I found Hong Kong to be 'just another big city', not at all that special. However, what was exactly as I had imagined it, was the view. The top photo shows a view of Hong Kong Island seen from Kowloon and the other one shows Hong Kong seen (at night) from Victoria Peak. Both views were breathtaking.

Hong Kong: the shopping

On the 1st of June, we took the plane to Hong Kong, where we stayed for about a week. Let me tell you right away what is the best part of Hong Kong: the shopping! Hong Kong is a true shopper's paradise (and I should know). You can find everything from souvenirs to electronics, from tea to cosmetics (by the way, there are no taxes on cosmetics in HK). But, not to appear too shallow, we first had a look around on the Flower Market, the Bird's Market and the Goldfish Market (yes!), before heading down to the Ladies Market (see photo). The biggest purchase, however, we made on Nathan Road: two matching wedding rings! Yes, yes, we are still planning to get married!

Too much

Sunday the 31st of May was the last day 'la nonna' and 'la zia' were going to spend in Changchun, so Remo and I had arranged to have lunch downtown in a newly opened pizzeria/gelateria. The owner of the place is Chinese, but the cook, Massimo, is Italian. Actually, Massimo was hired to get the place started and to teach the Chinese employees how to prepare the ice cream and how to make the pizzas. As long as he was there, we knew we were going to eat well. We had asked him to prepare a 'special meal' (glutenfree and vegetarian) for us, which was sooo good that just remembering it now, almost makes me want to cry (the other day, Remo and I went there again and found out that Massimo had completed his 'training period' and had moved on). The man on the photo (who's head Auro is so desperately trying to touch) is Massimo!
After leaving the restaurant, we desperately tried to walk of some of the lunch, because, believe it or not, only a couple of hours later we were expected to have dinner with the dean of Remo's college (HB or professor Sun). So, by the early evening, with still full stomachs, we dragged ourselves to another restaurant (actually, HB picked us up in his car). The food (Chinese food this time), however, was so good that, to our own surprise, we ate untill we practically rolled over! The picture was taken just before the dinner and from left to right, you can see: HB's wife, HB, Remo and Valeria (=la nonna).

Tent

Another Italian word I picked up during the stay of my in-laws is the word "tenda", which means "tent". Since the weather in Changchun was so good, we decided to go out for another picknick. This time, though, we took a taxi to the South Lake Park and upgraded our picknick-gear: we bought a tent! South Lake Park is always full of people (especially when the sun is out) and the Chinese sense of privacy is not exactly the same as ours (actually, I sometimes wonder whether there is a Chinese word for 'privacy' at all), so I thought it'd be better if we had a tent in which Auro could take a nap without 20 people standing around him. Also, because I'm still breastfeeding, the tent allowed me to hang on to that last piece of shame that I still have left. After having breastfed in the most unthinkable places (taxis, public buses, on the doorstep of a museum,...) sometimes with people practically putting their nose between Auro's mouth and my... there is not much shame left in me, believe me! Anyway, so off we went to the park and had ourselves a relaxing picknick!!

Hairdresser

One of the new words I learned in Italian recently is the word for hairdresser: 'parucchiera'. This word is extremely important for 'la nonna', since she holds this strong conviction that her hair should only be washed (and styled) by professionals. She therefore never washes her hair herself, but instead goes to the hairdresser once a week to have it done. Why would she do it differently here in China?
The first time she went to a hairdresser here, she went to the first one she saw: a small shop near the university. There, they not only washed her hair, but also her face (they made her bend over while she was standing!). And all of that for the price of 1 Euro!! Ready to try some upscale salon, she decided to head downtown for the next 'wash & blow'. Lara, Auro and myself joined her. I was feeling brave and had a haircut. The language barrier, unfortunately, made me come out with my hair a bit (actually a lot) shorter than I had wanted, but, hey, they will grow back, right? Right? The constant noice coming from all the hairdryers made Auro sleep throughout the whole happening and by the time he woke up, we were all ready to go. Then I remembered that Auro's hair could use a little trimming, not much, just above the ears a little bit. The gentleman who cut my hair happily obliged and while I held Auro's head, he put the scissors on Auro's hair for the first time. A true historical moment!! And behold the result: a beautiful boy ready to hit the town! (not for another 20 years, if I can help it though;)))

Xi'an: the muslims

What we also enjoyed a lot in Xi'an was the Muslim Quarter. For me, it was quite a surprise to find such a big muslim community in China. When I think of China, I think of Buddhists, Confucianists and Taoists maybe, but not Muslims... I picture temples, not mosques... But, we are never too old to learn, right? Xi'an has a beautiful mosque and the muslim quarter is absolutely magnificent: narrow alleys lined with butcher shops, bearded men with white skull-caps sitting on their front steps and food stalls selling all kinds of Islamic delicacies. The best, however, is the seemingly endless number of shops selling all kinds of souvenirs and 'brand' goods! Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Ralph Lauren... all genuinely "made in China"!!

Xi'an: the warriors

After regaining our strenght in Changchun, we traveled to the city of Xi'an. Xi'an (or 西安, which litterally translates as 'safe west or western peace') is located in the centre of China and is one of China's major attractions. Xi'an is one of the oldest cities in China and has been the capital of some of the most important dynasties (it was the capital of the Qin, the first dynasty to rule over all of eastern China). Xi'an was also the eastern terminus for the caravans of the silk road. What draws most of the tourists to Xi'an, however, is the Army of Terracotta Warriors. Needless to say this was also our main reason to go there.
The first underground vault containing thousands of life-size terracotta soldiers was discovered in 1972 by some farmer (who now hands out autographs to tourists!). Since then, two more pits have been discovered. Actually, all the vaults had collapsed by the time of discovery and so, all but one of the soldiers were broken. Even today, archeologists are busy trying to put all the pieces together (according to our guide it might take another 2 generations before all the work is done). The vaults looked like huge pits (I had always imagined them to be more like underground caves... don't ask me why...), but the soldiers were absolutely magnificent! Every face is different and the details are amazing! If you are ever in Xi'an, make sure to go and see them!! We bought 2 miniature soldiers made from the same clay (or so they told us) as the real ones. (Again, according to our guide, they will become collector items since the they are running out of clay... )

Picknick

After spending some days in Beijing with our freshly arrived guests, we took the nighttrain to Changchun and stayed at our apartment for about one week. Remo went to to the university every day (also Saturday and Sunday) to make up for the time he spent in Beijing and the time he was going to spend traveling the week after. The women stayed at home and cooked, cleaned and took care of Auro!!!
One day, to give ourselves a break, we packed a lunch and walked over to the university where we had a picknick! Auro, who by that time had improved his 'sitting by himself skills' considerably, proudly showed off his new ability by sitting up straight while his aunt Lara fed him his lunch. He didn't loose his balance even once!

Wall

And we are back!
Some of you might wonder where we have been for the past weeks. Well, we were here... safely tucked away behind the infamous "Great Firewall of China". For some reason, China all of sudden deemed Blogger.com's contents inappropriate for it's population and therefore blocked all access to it from within China. Luckily, blogger has an optional setting that allows people like me to post directly from their email account (Thank you, Kati, for pointing that out to me!). To activate this setting, however, I needed to be on the other side of the wall first, which happened last week when we traveled to Hong Kong (Hong Kong is also China? I don't think so!!!).
Anyway, over the next couple of days, I will try to bring you up to date and give you a brief account of the things since our trip to Beijing. Don't give up on us yet!!!